Views on the fourth wall from beyond the fourth wall

What I'm Watching

Category: How I Met Your Mother

Audience expectations are often a huge factor when viewers decide their thoughts on an episode of television, specifically when it comes to the series finale. Throughout a show’s run, viewers expect the writers to subvert their expectations, to take the story and characters they’ve invested time and energy in to new and exciting places that they wouldn’t be able to come up with themselves. If something occurs that is too out-there for the show, or that messes with the status-quo, there can be backlash–and viewers can be lost–but audiences tend to be more forgiving if they believe that everything has a purpose. This forgiving nature does not apply to a series finale, because there is no room left for explanation. Fans invest in shows, and because of that they feel they are owed the ending they pictured, which often is not the ending the creators and writers want to give. Keep reading ›

Networks don’t like getting rid of successful shows. Too many shows have been kept on the air long past their expiration dates because they were still getting good ratings. After a few stale seasons, someone eventually realizes that it’s time to let go, and the show finally ends. But what happens when the network thinks that rebooting a beloved (and exhausted) show with a new cast and a different perspective will bring back the spark and keep their cash-cow rolling? Keep reading ›

I previously wrote about how It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a show in its ninth season that has somehow managed to not get stale. I mentioned that this was a rarity, which can definitely be seen by contrasting Sunny‘s track-record with How I Met Your Mother‘s. HIMYM began its decline around season 4 or 5, a decline which, arguably, has continued until last season. Not that there weren’t high points in those last few seasons — some of the show’s best gags and most poignant moments happened then — but the overall quality of the show was so low, which added to the power of those moments. Where HIMYM was once a bright point of my week, it evolved into a chore, something I had to keep up with because of all the time I had invested into it. It got to the point where I was just waiting for it to end so that I could move on. Keep reading ›